Tuesday, June 3, 2008

the wobble


As a pre-teen, my daughter competed as a gymnast. She worked hard several hours a day, training four or more days, every week, every month. She competed in qualifying meets, the CT State Championships and the Northeast Regional Finals.

This morning, I was thinking about one of those Regional competitions. The whole family drove eight hours to Waterville, Maine for the weekend. Meaghan’s first event was the balance beam.

On the first major turn in her routine, she wobbled. She didn’t fall. It was just a wobble. And she regained her balance in less than a second. But I remember turning to my wife saying “well, there goes regionals!”

Meaghan finished her routine beautifully, then went on to do extremely well in the uneven bars, the vault and floor exercise. But we knew from that first turn on the balance beam that she was not going to place in the all-around competition.

That one wobble – a mandatory ½ point deduction – would have meant nothing in the qualifying rounds. She had previously rebounded from such a start in States. But here, in the Regional Finals, the competition was too strong. And a single wobble costs more.

That story came to my mind this morning. If you remember, back in March, I felt that God was calling on me to walk with Him. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Heh God, pick me!
God: You ready?

Me: Yes Lord.
God: Good, I’ve got something important I need you to do.

Me: Great! What is it?
God: I must warn you, this next step will be harder and more challenging that anything I’ve asked you to do before.

Me: Hmmm, what is it Lord?
God: You ready?

Me: You said harder, right? Can you give me a sense of what that means?

Me: God, you still there?

In hindsight, I guess you could say I wobbled. Because when I looked up, God was gone. And I sat there for a while (okay, a few weeks) thinking that God was mad at me. That he had abandoned me. But I know now that’s not the case.

While I sat still, God simply kept moving. He wasn’t leaving me behind; He was out looking for someone who was ready to say “yes”. Because when God wants something done, it will get done.

So here it is, two months later. And if I want to re-engage my walk with Christ, I guess I need to start moving again. After all, it was just one wobble, and there's still a few more events to go.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

you are soooooo Loved